Question on nesting

I have a chicken that laid 7 eggs and has not laid any more.  I have another that is starting to lay eggs, can I move the 7 eggs to the other chickens nest?

Fertile eggs?  Do you have a rooster that is active with the ladies?  I'm assuming that its your goal to have the girls hatch the eggs?

A bird has to be broody in order to want to sit on the eggs.  Is she acting differently -- only leaving the nesting box once or twice a day to get a drink, eat a quick snack or take a quick dust bath?  Does she fluff up her feathers when you attempt to take her eggs out of the nesting box?  Is she more aggressive than normal?  If you're not noticing any of these signs, your girl probably isn't broody.  You're better off using those eggs for an omelet.  

Most hens go broody at least once a year, and often multiple times.  She'll let you know if she wants to sit on the eggs.  But just moving eggs from one nesting box away from a non-broody hen to another nesting box with another non-broody hen really won't do you much good.





Mmmmmm . . . an omelet.

Yes I do have a rooster.  The eggs have been there for over a week
Are they good to eat.

Thank you

Yes, they should still be perfectly fine to eat.  To check them, fill a bowl full of cold water.  Put the eggs in the water one at a time and see if they sink to the bottom.  

If they lay flat on the bottom of the bowl under water, they are good to use.  

If one end of the egg starts to raise up and they "stand up" under water, they are still good but you should cook them well --- a hard boiled egg would be a good way to use that egg.  

If they float or are just about ready to float off the bottom, discard those eggs.  You can always cook them and feed them right back to your chickens.  Never feed them raw eggs (because they'll get the taste for raw eggs and then will go around pecking eggs and eating them).  I'll occasionally find a rouge egg that one of the girls laid out under a bush somewhere.  I'll cook it up (usually boil it) and then crumble it into their feed, shell and all.

As long as the eggs haven't been washed, they have a protective coating on them that keeps bacteria out.  In most parts of the world, people do not wash their eggs so they don't need to be refrigerated.  But once you wash them, you'll need to put them in the fridge.  They'll last up to 50 days when they are refrigerated, but they don't taste fresh the way an unwashed, unrefrigerated egg does.  

The reason why they don't spoil when left out unrefrigerated is because when a hen is building a big clutch of eggs, she isn't going to sit on them until she feels she's got enough for a big brood.  She may lay as many as 15 eggs.  12 is normal, which is why eggs have traditionally been sold by the dozen.  Once she's laid her clutch of eggs, she'll begin to sit on them, and they will all incubate at the same time.  That way they all hatch at the same time.  They'll all hatch within a day or so, and away they'll go as a new family.

Enjoy those eggs.  Once your girls go broody, you'll see a clear difference in their behavior.  They'll be telling you, "I want to sit on these eggs."

Marco Banks wrote:A bird has to be broody in order to want to sit on the eggs.  Is she acting differently -- only leaving the nesting box once or twice a day to get a drink, eat a quick snack or take a quick dust bath?  Does she fluff up her feathers when you attempt to take her eggs out of the nesting box?  Is she more aggressive than normal?  If you're not noticing any of these signs, your girl probably isn't broody.  You're better off using those eggs for an omelet.  

Most hens go broody at least once a year, and often multiple times.  She'll let you know if she wants to sit on the eggs.  But just moving eggs from one nesting box away from a non-broody hen to another nesting box with another non-broody hen really won't do you much good.

I agree with Marco, if a hen is not broody there is no reason to leave the eggs.

Here are some threads that might be helpful or at least interesting:

https://permies.com/t/70187/Hatching-abandoned-eggs-incubator

https://permies.com/t/157983/Encourage-Broodiness

https://permies.com/t/163672/time-mother-hen

I would like to add a little to what Marco said about the float test. The float test is about the age of the egg. As eggs get older there is more air inside causing it to float. An egg that was just laid only has a small amount of air and will stay on the bottom. The misconception is that if the egg stays on the bottom it is automatically good and if the egg floats it is automatically bad. These are generalizations and are not 100% all of the time. There are times when an egg can go bad for some reason shortly after being laid. It may still be at the bottom but not really be safe to eat. Along the same lines an egg could float, but have been preserved well and still be safe to eat.

I don't tend to eat eggs that float - they end up in the compost pile. And I still check even fresh eggs for a bad smell or funny look. I just want to make sure people understand what the float test is actually checking for.